Editorial: Lawmakers' behavior makes it hard to justify a pay raise

5:55 PM,
Jan. 31, 2013

In this May 2010 file photo, then-Sen. Shirley Huntley, D-Queens, greets former Mets and Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry at a reception in Albany. On Wednesday, Huntley pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled taxpayer money.

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A Journal News editorial

You have to feel - or perhaps maybe not - for state lawmakers looking for a pay raise at some point in this century. Just when it seems the coast might be clear, there's some happening to remind voters that extra pay for legislators is a small concern.

Another of those happenings occurred Wednesday, when ex-Sen. Shirley Huntley, D-Queens, pleaded guilty to charges she siphoned off some $87,700 in taxpayer money from a nonprofit agency she founded and used the money to cover shopping sprees for herself and family members.

Over a three-year period going back to 2005, the 74-year-old Huntley wrote ...